Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what targets her Department has set to help achieve the Government's commitments on net zero.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As part of the greening government commitments framework, set for the period between April 2021 to March 2025, the Attorney General’s Office’s overall and direct emissions reduction targets are 49% and 25%, respectively.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the operation of the special mechanism of justice for the investigation and judicial examination of crime by occupiers in Ukraine announced by President Zelensky in April 2022.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Accountability for Russia’s actions is one of the key tenets of UK foreign policy on the Ukraine crisis – alongside military, economic, and humanitarian support. The UK is genuinely a practical and thought leader on this.
There are three broad strands to our work on accountability. First, the UK has provided expert assistance to assist Ukrainian investigators and prosecutors. Second the UK, alongside the international community, will continue to provide the International Criminal Court with the funding, people, and expertise to ensure justice is served. Third, we are exploring options to hold Russia accountable for the Crime of Aggression.
On 20 January 2023, the Foreign Secretary announced that the UK had accepted Ukraine’s invitation to join a core group of States to shape thinking on how to ensure criminal accountability for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. On 4 March 2023 at the United for Justice conference in Lviv, it was announced that an International Centre for the Prosecution of Crimes of Aggression against Ukraine will be established in The Hague, within the structure of Eurojust’s Joint Investigation Team for Ukraine. I represented the UK at that conference.
On 18 April 2023, the Foreign Ministers of the G7 countries issued a joint communiqué stating that they “support exploring the creation of an internationalized tribunal based in Ukraine’s judicial system to prosecute the crime of aggression against Ukraine.” On 26 June 2023 the Ukrainian Prosecutor General and I attended an event hosted by the Slynn Foundation which considered impunity and justice and accountability for Ukraine.
I continue to have discussions on the principle and practicalities of accountability mechanisms with Cabinet colleagues, including the Foreign Secretary and Lord Chancellor on a regular basis. In addition, I have regular discussions with our Ukrainian allies and my international counterparts on these issues.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of Operation Soteria on the level of prosecution for rape offences.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Operation Soteria is a significant step-change in Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Police ways of working to ensure national consistency in the approach to handling adult rape cases.
Since the launch of Operation Soteria pilots, the CPS has observed consistent improvements in performance on rape prosecutions.
For example, in CPS London North we have seen significant improvements in our prosecutions flagged as adult rape, with a 24% increase in the calendar year 2022 compared to 2021. Similarly, charging decisions on cases flagged as adult rape have also increased in CPS London North, by 41% in the calendar year 2022 compared to 2021.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of prosecution of serious violent crime in London.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Serious violent crime encompasses many different crime types but is more commonly associated with drug crime, knife crime, gun crime and homicide.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to adopt a child-first approach to prosecuting people under the age of 18.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Each CPS Area has a lead prosecutor for cases involving children, who is equipped to deal with complex casework and provide support to other prosecutors.
In May 2023, the CPS published the single biggest update to their legal guidance on Children as Suspects and Defendants, which can be found here: Children as suspects and defendants | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk). This guidance sets out the approach prosecutors should take when applying the Code for Crown Prosecutors when deciding whether to prosecute children. This update incorporates all recent policy, terminology, and legislative updates, and is intended to reflect a ‘Child First’ justice principle.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what progress his Department has made on achieving water neutrality on his Department's estate.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) leases part of an estate which is managed by the Ministry of Justice and the Government Property Agency. The AGO therefore does not manage the quality of the water on the estate. |
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what recent discussions she has had with the Ukrainian Prosecutor General on the progress of criminal investigations and prosecutions in that country into potential war crimes perpetrated during the Russian invasion.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The United Kingdom stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in its fight for accountability for Russia’s actions. The Attorney General has regular contact with her Ukrainian counterpart, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin. She visited him in Kyiv and joined him at Ukraine’s United for Justice conference in Lviv over 3 to 5 March, and more recently hosted him in London for the UK-Dutch Justice Ministers’ Conference in support of the International Criminal Court’s investigation into the situation in Ukraine. Prosecutor General Kostin is responsible for the extraordinary task of investigating and prosecuting crimes committed in Ukraine and has opened over 80,000 files covering a range of alleged offences. The Ukrainian authorities have brought successful war crimes prosecutions already in Ukraine’s domestic courts, in real time during this live and brutal conflict – a practically unprecedented achievement. We are supporting Ukraine in their domestic legal processes through a number of significant initiatives. We have recently concluded a judicial training programme in the region, led by Sir Howard Morrison KC, training over 100 judges in person on the conduct of war crimes trials. The UK, together with the United States and EU, has also launched the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA) to directly support the War Crimes Units of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine in its investigation and prosecution of conflict-related crimes. The ACA seeks to streamline coordination and communication efforts to ensure best practices, avoid duplication of efforts, and encourage the expeditious deployment of financial resources and skilled personnel to respond to the needs of the OPG as the legally constituted authority in Ukraine responsible for dealing with the prosecution of war crimes on its own territory. This government remains steadfast in its ongoing support to Ukraine’s search for justice. |
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of support provided to Crown Prosecution Service lawyers prosecuting rape and serious sexual offences in London.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The CPS has a comprehensive programme of learning and wellbeing support for all lawyers prosecuting rape and serious sexual offences, including those in London. All lawyers dealing with such casework are required to undertake bespoke training providing a clear understanding of the complexities surrounding the offence, the suspect centric approach, the impact of trauma upon victim’s memory and how to reach Code compliant decisions and assessment of evidence. The wellbeing of all lawyers and paralegals dealing with such offences is paramount and as such, timely and accessible wellbeing support mechanisms are in place to support the mental and physical wellbeing of those dealing with traumatic material. |
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to increase its number of legal trainees.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) runs an award-winning and highly competitive legal trainee scheme that has seen hundreds of trainees undertake a training contract and/or pupillage across England and Wales with the CPS since 2012. The CPS has extended its post graduate qualification requirements, to include not only the LPC and Bar Qualification, but the new Solicitors Qualifying Examination, which opens a career in law to a broader and more diverse audience. |
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of her Department’s employees work from home at least one day a week.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Attorney General’s Office do not monitor individuals’ attendance in the office and are unable to provide the proportion of employees working from home at least one day a week. Overall occupancy data is published https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-headquarters-occupancy-data. Decisions about workforce and working arrangements are delegated to individual departments and the AGO expect employees to attend the workplace for a minimum of 40% of their time. Over the past two years, the Civil Service has had to work in a more agile way whilst still delivering essential public services. Before the pandemic, most departments worked on a basis of a ratio of desks to staff and that remains the case – so hybrid working arrangements are not new. No office operates at 100% occupancy given there will always be a number of reasons why staff may be out of the office, for example people being on annual leave, attending meetings off site or external visits. |